SummaryA housewife suspects that her seemingly perfect eight-year-old daughter is a heartless killer.
Directed By:Mervyn LeRoy
Written By:John Lee Mahin, Maxwell Anderson, William March
The Bad Seed
Metascore
Mixed or Average
51
User score
Mixed or Average
5.6
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
51
40% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
60% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
75
The film is filled with unintentional laughs and with other moments that are simply jaw-droppingly absurd, either for the histrionic acting, the dated style of writing, the pseudo-science or just the spectacle of evil in pigtails. One could easily make the case that the movie is simply awful. Yet everything dated and peculiar about it is fascinating and does not detract -- it may even enhance -- the fun of the central premise. [05 Sep 2004, p.28]
63
The Bad Seed was a successful novel and Broadway play before it was made into a movie, and the melodramatic quality of much of the writing and acting betray these roots. But the movie's artful black-and-white cinematography still contributes much to making this a remarkably gripping chiller. [05 Apr 1987, p.Y6]
63
The Bad Seed might not have the lurid veneer of Oedipal conflict that turned The Good Son into a supreme guilty pleasure, but it’s got more false-façade performances than you could ever hope for.
50
So you have here a film version of a chilling novel and interestingly repellent stage play that defeats its own purpose with a static recording of the stage business and some of the most elaborate eye-popping and facial mugging since the last effort by the Three Stooges. [12 Dec 1956, p.5]
50
Director LeRoy has been overly faithful to the play script. Actors march on and off the screen just as if they were making stage entrances and exits.
40
Mervyn LeRoy, who produced and directed, has lost a great deal of the bite of the play. He has done it in a style of presentation that is ostentatious and often insincere.
40
Overlong, stiff, and about as suspenseful as a detergent commercial, The Bad Seed has one small asset, Patty McCormack as the child, but that's about it.
User score
Mixed or Average
5.6
56% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
22% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
22% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Sep 14, 2025
6
Movie is dialogue heavy , due to its' stage origins, But redeemed by some truly heartbreaking acting by Bad Seed's mom, and the drunk woman who lost her son. The creepy loathsome psycho little girl projects menace, but often, her campy overacting hurts the impact of the movie. A movie has some still very shocking events, and a subject matter that was edgy for its' time. And add me to the list of people upset with the studio imposed tacked on ridiculous ending, followed by the warm friendly smiling cast introductions.
Production Company:
- Warner Bros.
- Mervyn LeRoy Productions Inc.
Release Date:Sep 12, 1956
Duration:2 h 9 m
Rating:TV-PG
Tagline:A WOMAN'S SHAME...Out in the Open!
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 4 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Laurel Awards
• 1 Nomination
